David Michael Trevino, Renee Cohen, Lina VanGerpen and Andrew Landecker. (Photo by Niko Montelibano)
Reviewed by Iris Mann
Zephyr Theatre
Through August 3
This dramatic musical about a doomed love affair has the potential to be a heartbreaking tearjerker. The drama is based on Robert James Waller’s best-selling novel and its 1995 film adaptation starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood as older versions of the two ill-fated lovers. The play rounds out the basic storyline with a book by Tony recipient and Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman, along with music and lyrics by Tony recipient Jason Robert Brown. Brown’s score is diverse, mingling arias with folk, pop, and country numbers.
However, the musical’s current rendering by the Chromolume Theatre is disappointingly uneven and misses the opportunity to move an audience as deeply as it might. There are moments, particularly in the second act, when the music and lyrics, together with the performances, begin to stir the viewer’s emotions, but those sections are few and far between.
The story, which takes place in 1965, concerns 38-year-old Francesca (Rachel Wirtz), an Italian war bride who is in an unfulfilling marriage to Bud (James Esposito, who also provided the scenic and sound designs), the American serviceman who brought her to live on a farm in Iowa. There she has spent eighteen years creating a home and raising two children, while giving up all her dreams.
One day Bud and their children are off at a state fair, and Robert (Kyle Critelli), a handsome photographer for the National Geographic, shows up at her door. He’s been assigned to photograph the town’s famous covered bridges and needs directions to one of them.
The attraction between them is instantaneous, and what follows is an intense affair over the next four days, up until Bud and the children are about to arrive back home. Francesca is faced with choosing between following her love and her duty to her family.
Director Richard Van Slyke has his actors moving unobtrusively and smoothly around the stage and places them so that each scene is distinct and focused. What he hasn’t done is establish a level of emotional tension that should permeate the action and stimulate a sense of anticipation in the audience. The crux of this story is the almost immediate, irresistible chemistry between the two main characters, and that immediacy doesn’t come across.
It isn’t until the latter part of the first act and at designated moments in the second act, when the two actually begin to make love, that their desire and longing for each other are, to a certain extent, evident. As a result, much of the intervening dialogue and the interchanges between the characters seem mundane and a bit flat.
The second act, after the affair has actually begun, is a bit stronger, as the lovers’ feelings for each other and Francesca’s dilemma are more openly expressed. Yet, the telescoped depiction of the passing years and the ending, which should be deeply painful to take in, are only mildly sad.
The acting is also uneven. Wirtz has a sweet voice, and her renditions of “To Build a Home,” in which Francesca tells her backstory and hints at her loneliness, and “Look at Me,” the number that expresses the character’s feelings of being overlooked and misunderstood, are her strongest moments. But, overall, the character’s deep pain and intense passion need to be starker.
Critelli is an attractive presence, but, at times he is almost inaudible, particularly in his opening scenes. He needs to project more. Still, his delivery of Robert’s final song, “It All Fades Away” is shattering in its impact.
David Michael Trevino as a close neighbor and friend, along with Mary Zastrow as his nosy but caring wife, provide comic relief and give solid performances.
Esposito also does some strong work, but he often seems unnecessarily hostile (especially in his opening moments), giving little sense of Bud’s feelings for his wife.
Chris Gutierrez and Abby Espiritu fulfill their roles as Michael and Carolyn, Francesca’s children, but Espiritu shouts her dialogue so often that her lines become incomprehensible.
Finally, Richard Berent on piano and Xinqian Li on guitar lend admirable support and serve to anchor the action.
Zephyr Theatre, 7456 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Fri.-Sat., 8 pm, Sun., 3 pm, addl. perf., Sun. July 27, 7 pm; thru Aug. 3. www.chrtheatre.com Running time: 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission.
